Temple of Elemental Evil game on Steam

"Years ago a demoness’s elemental cult ruled from a temple near Nulb until the Circle of Eight razed it. Now bandits stalk Hommlet and dark forces gather at the ruins. In this classic party‑based D&D RPG, unmask their true purpose and confront the reborn evil before chaos engulfs the land." — Steam

"The Steam version of cult classic DnD game The Temple of Elemental Evil, spearheaded by Fallout creator Tim Cain, finally fixes its age-old woes." — PCGamesN 

Read the full article here.

Virtual Greyhawk Con 6 Report

Here is long postponed Virtual Greyhawk Con report. As always, I had a wonderful time again this year, at the convention's sixth annual installment. Thanks to the organization and everyone that made it possible!

This year I played in four games, and attended to the "Ask the Experts" seminar.

Thursday 

The first game I played was Anna B. Meyer's "Shield Lands Skirmish" game where she was further testing Hawk Tales, her FRPG ruleset. We were a group of fairly new recruits that got to man one of the keeps guarding the frontline, some miles to the Southeast of Critwall, while the regular crew went on a mission further into Iuzian controlled territory. Even though Hawk Tales doesn't have classes, we were a Fighter (Gamus of Furd, this was the character I played), a Cleric (Kadius of Eragern), a Magic-User (Eddal of Eragern), a Thief (Alwes of Hirtfer), a Druid (Briad of Furd) and an Archer (Mogret of Herechel). 

Before getting into the fort, Briad scouted around as a fox and found that "something is out there". Shortly after setting in, goblins hailed arrows upon us while a group of skeletons tried to cross the ford. We returned fire while Eddal blasted most of the skeletons with a Fireball. After that , a flock of vultures, crows, ravens and other flying monstrosities flew over the tower causing fear and madness, but also dropping pieces of bone. When we checked them out the bones coalesced into skeletons that exploded after you hit them. After the cleric's Turn Undead dealt with them, a wave of ghouls swiftly came over the ramparts. We managed to retreat and held the door that gave access to the tower from above. Meanwhile downstairs orcs tried to break through the main entrance but were deterred by arrows and cold magic.

"Hold the door!" was the shout that became the motto for the rookie companies sent to man those forts.

Friday

At night Les "OblivionSeeker" Reno ran "The Deadsinger of Molag" where I played Pandreyus, a 9th level Thief, or Rogue because it was a 5e game.

It all started investigating a farmhouse massacre near the frontier. We arrived at a farmhouse in the springtime, just after Growfest, to find a horrific scene. The family (5 adults, 4 children) had been attacked. The children were missing. The father was found decapitated (his head facing East), and his wife was also brutally murdered. The other adults were apparently taken captive along with the children. The house was ransacked, and animals were either slaughtered or set free. We found many clues: the door was opened from the inside; tiny footprints were found coming up the chimney, which felt familiar. The Bard's Speak with Dead on the wife revealed the attacker was "a small one with a fake face" (possibly wearing a mask) and that "none" of the attackers had a lute.

After that we hit the trail where we picked up the tracks of five men plus the kidnapped adults, which soon joined wagon tracks heading northwest, giving the kidnappers a lead of about a day and a half. Along the road, we found another body: face down, throat slit; a scythe symbol was carved on his forehead; he had a strange puncture on his forearm (not animal or insect), similar to the decapitated father.

Further ahead we came across a couple of helpful Knights that provided us with some troubling intel. We encountered Roderic (a cleric) and Archer (a huge archer), both Knights of the Holy Shielding in training. They offered to share their nearby camp and information. They reported seeing "travelling performers" (later we found they were actually Orcs & Hobgoblins!) with a couple of wagons. They also provided us with 4 potions of healing, 1 potion of greater healing, and a map showing an abandoned keep, a dolmen, and caves. 

After a night of rest we followed the tracks, crossed the Ritensa River by barge and found graffiti in Old Oeridian on an old  low stone wall near an also old body: “We will steal when we cannot buy what you stole from us. We also discovered a strange, iridescent blue blight on the grass that causes apathy if ingested. As sun begun to set we readied a camp among a rocky outcrop and assigned the watches for the night. A night that turned eventful. During the 1st watch drums in the distance were heard. The guy on the 2nd watch spotted vultures, one of which swooped down to grab a "furry figure", and on the 3rd watch a band of 20 drunk orcs passed by but didn't spot our camp. It was on the 4th watch that we heard sounds of a fight. Four goblins on worgs were being pursued by human horsemen in black leather armor, bearing a scythe and skull symbol (Nerullites!). One worg broke from the chase and headed straight for your camp. Everyone woke and the Druid summoned wolves, which helped us capture one goblin and one of the human pursuers after the other were killed. The goblin cooperated, but the human didn't so we killed him. From the goblin, we learned of two locations: "StinkTower" (Fort Tippit) to the East and "Little Longshanks" that dwelled in a cave described as "alive with arms and legs," where "a lady sings dead songs."

In the morning we freed the goblin and decided to check the dolmen. We found a 30-foot high mound with five wagons at its base. The area stank of roasting flesh. Over 30 hobgoblins and human Nerullites were drinking and gambling. We attempted a ruse disguised as "4 guards and a prisoner", which succeeded long enough to get you close to the tent at the top. However, we were discovered, and combat erupted against a hobgoblin, seven twig dolls with tiny scythes, and a halfling wearing a mask.

The Barbarian raged and killed the hobgoblin right away, then attacked the halfling. The Druid burned the halfling, knocking his mask off. The halfling creature shrieked, "You freed them!" The Sorcerer cast a protective Wall of Fire around the party. We identified the twig dolls as Carrionettes—a sinister Flan puppet that possesses human vessels. One Carrionette apparently dominated the Barbarian, but the Druid cast Hold Person on him. The Sorcerer then dropped the flames and cast Protection from Evil on the Barbarian, freeing him from the puppet's control. Meanwhile, a major threat emerged from a portal at the dolmen: Mir Murcas, "The Deadsinger of Molag," carrying a lyre!

The Bard tried to cast Hypnotic Pattern on Mir, but the spell bounced back, hitting the Bard instead! Despite the setback, the Barbarian, Bard (recovered), and the Druid's bears managed to surround and hack Mir Murcas to pieces. With their leader dead, the remaining hobgoblins and Nerullites scattered.

In the aftermath we pieced together the final clues: 1) The Carrionette were the "funny little man" from the Growfest—this is why the chimney footprints were familiar. 2) The children were the target all along. They all share identical birthmarks (related to an acorn and a tree).

We secured the wagons with the children inside and began riding south. As we left, we spotted two familiar figures—Roderic and Archer—who were now accompanied by five more people (four men and one woman).

Saturday morning

Brian Jagusak from "Dice and a Pencil" ran Rob Kuntz's 1975 tournament module "Sunken City". The great mage Drawmij put our group together to retrieve from the city a magical item that could read any language. He opened a portal to the submerged city that will remain for 4 hours. 

I played Othlinden, an 8th level lizard man fighter pretending to be a human. He was looking for the legendary Serpent Belt, a powerful magic item and national treasure of the Kingdom of Oogresh. Returning it would bestow great rewards to the one doing so. This was Eric Shook's character in the original RJK's World of Kalibruhn campaign.

After one of the several rafts that are available, we advanced in the general direction thanks to a Locate Object spell.  On our way a group of four hungry giant crabs attacked us. We fought back with some arrows and a well placed Fireball that killed two but rocked the buildings around, even bringing one down! All this made a couple of giant eels to investigate what was going on, but a good reaction roll and Speak With Animals spell were enough to have them on their way back to their lair. Some giant turtles were interested in us but a Speak With Animals spell and some rations got us past them.

Next stop was tower with two serpent heads. Othlinden was excited because the place looked promising to his interests. We entered the tower and explored it. The northern side was empty while the southern one was filled with bones in front of an altar that had an ornate belt on top of it. Othlinden knew instantly he was looking at the Serpent Belt. When he moved to take it he was attacked by something huge and invisible. In the end we defeated the thing, a 12-head hydra!

Moved the raft across the tower to avoid two whirlpools and continued to the other side towards a semi-submerged tower. Some made their way inside through an underwater doorway and then lowered a rope for the rest climbed to a window. There we found a tinkerer's room with workbenches, tools, books, cabinets, blueprints and more. Inside a 6' tall locked metal cabinet we found what we were looking for. What we found could be best described as a Star Wars Probe Droid. We also got its manual and managed to get it going.

With this construct in tow (we found it could Levitate) we exited the tower and tried to find the Silvery Dorr of Oricholum before the portal closed. On our way we were chased by five mermen with tridents riding giant sea horses. Othlinden drank a Potion of Polymorph Self to turn into a giant crocodile. He grabbed the raft with his mandibles and used his tail to propel it forward, while the rest fought the mermen with sling shots, rocks, javelins and a Hold Monster spell.

As we were racing towards the shrinking portal a huge sea troll tried to block our way, but we managed to get past it and dive into the portal to safety!

Sunday Afternoon

Allan "grodog" Grohe ran the playtest of "Gnoll Raiders Cairn", a scenario where the party is hired to go after a particularly ferocious band of gnolls that have been looting caravans en route to the Free City of Greyhawk, striking along the Urnst Trail and recover the wares.

I played Freda, a human 6th level ranger from the Slave Lords pre-generated characters. Since this was like I said a playtest, I will not go into many detail that could spoil some of the surprises this adventure has. Just say that I was eager to play a ranger against gnolls, but couldn't use some of her abilities when we fought them...

Sunday Night

In the "Ask the Experts" closing event I won one of the giveaways consisting in "Fortress Ellendar", an adventure for the High Fantasy RPPG from 1979, and the supplement "Relics & Ruins" from Knave rules toolkit.

Halloween game

"Somewhere under a lost and lonely hill of grim and foreboding aspect lies a labyrinthine crypt. It is filled with terrible traps and not afewstrongeandferocious monsters to slay the unwary. It is filled with rich treasures both precious and magical, but in addition to the aforementioned guardians, there is said to be a demi-lich who stillwords his final haunt."

Since this year Halloween falls on a Friday, the day we have our regular AD&D 1e game, I decided to run the classic "S1-Tomb of Horrors" for my group. We will be using the pre-generated characters that come with the module so they don't have to use their current characters.

I have 4 players so they will be running 2 characters each rolled randomly from the list.

Player 1 - Human Cleric 8 (#14) y Elf Fighter 5/Magic-User 11 (#5)
Player 2 - Halfling Fighter 4/Thief 5 (#20) y Dwarf Fighter 7/Thief 8 (#8)
Player 3 - Half-Elf Cleric 5/Ranger 7/Magic-User 6 (#10) y Human Fighter 8 (#13)
Player 4 - Human Ranger 13 (#4) y Elf Magic-User 7/Thief 9 (#11)

I know it's not any of the suggested combinations for a better success, but the idea is to have fun... and die horribly.

Gygax memorial fundraiser

There is a fundraiser going on for a Gygax memorial in Lake Geneva, WI. At the time of this post it is more than 75% funded and it will end on October 31st. Don't miss the chance to be part of history and contribute with whatever you can. I already did.

Follow the Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617053430/gary-gygax-memorial-game-table-for-dungeons-and-dragons-fans

Had the chance to visit Lake Geneva on 2024 for Gary Con XVI and the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, and I encourage every D&D fan to make that pilgrimage if you can.

Gary Gygax Memorial

Lake Geneva Public Library - Appendix N

Birthplace of D&D - 330 Center St

UPDATE (29/10/2025): The project is funded! 

Bite the Bullet

This is the latest creation of Jason Hobbs and Brian Tacle, art by James Richards, and it is based on the "Into the Odd" rules system. 

"Every town is a candle against a vast dark. 

Every ride into the wilderness is a wager with death.

The world didn’t end with a bang. It just…dried up. Crops failed. Governments and towns crumbled. That left gun smoke, a sharp word, and faith. Now it’s generations later. People live in worn-out settlements, carry old-world iron, and cling to whatever beliefs that kept them breathing. Some say miracles still happen out here in the Wastes—but they’refueled by something deeper, more internal, than bullets.

You’ve got grit, ghosts, and something you believe in that’s worth dying for. That's enough."

You can get it at DriveThruRPG as a PWYW.

There is also a fan-made app to generate characters for the game. You can also print your character sheet or download it in PDF, TXT or JSON format. 

Amyntor Wicke

This character was created to play Anthony Huso's "Castle of the Silver Prince" run by Aron Clark.

A scoundrel steeped in dishonor, Amyntor, only 23, now walks the path of a fledgling paladin. A level 0 character, he is a man plagued by excess—gambling, drinking, and indulgence—yet beneath his facade lies a burning ambition to reclaim his family's lost honor. 

His audacious claim of being the chosen champion of Hale, the god of the Stand, sparked divine intervention turning bluff into reality. Now, he must reconcile this incredible power with his past of deception as he strives to rise from the ashes of his family's disgrace.

S 18/57 I 9 W 13 D 18 C 18 Ch 17 Cm 16

Old Henry

Old Henry is a character for the playtest of the Weird West game "Bite the Bullet" by Jason Hobbs.  

He is a skilled and experienced scout with a reputation of being one of the lasts of his kind. With his faith put in the Great Spirit, he tries to live by the code of the ancient Native People but is haunted in his dreams after taking the help of that who he shouldn't have.

Vigor 11, Presence 13, Faith  9, Sand 3

Edrenor

This character is for  Allan T. Grohe's "grodog's Greyhawk" game (AD&D 1e).

Edrenor of Jarl (Diocese of Devarnish) is a young cleric whose severe appearance belies a formidable physical and spiritual strength. Hailing from the landed gentry of Veluna, his Oeridian heritage is clear in his tan skin, dark, perceptive eyes, and reddish-brown hair, which he keeps in a stark bowl cut above a neatly trimmed chinstrap beard. As a third son, the path of the clergy was a natural fit, and he serves Boccob, the god of magic and knowledge, with a quiet dedication. 

Though he has the look of a scholar, Edrenor is strong and exceptionally hardy, able to withstand punishment that would fell a lesser man. His true power, however, lies in his profound wisdom, which grants him deep insight and a powerful command of divine magic. While not particularly charming or agile, he is a grounded and pragmatic individual, valuing balance and order above all else.

 

S 15 I 14 W 17 D 10 Co 17 Ch 10

Virtual Greyhawk Con 6 - Tickets

 

Got my tickets for the Con today! I'm playing one game each of the Con days plus my two bi-weekly games, it would be a fun weekend for sure!

Thursday - Shield Lands Skirmish (Hawk Tales FRP): A short skirmish scenario set in the Shield Lands. Defend a keep from the Iuzian troops.

Friday - The Deadsinger of Molag (5E): Set in 576 CY, a mysterious force is murdering farmers in the Shield Lands. While pursuing the killer, adventurers learn of abducted civilians with similar birthmarks, and they discover that their target is bound for a secret rendezvous with the dreaded Mir Murcas, Deadsinger of Molag.

Saturday - Sunken City (AD&D 1e): Written by Robert J Kuntz was originally used as the 1st Dungeons and Dragons tournament at GenCon VIII in 1975! Will your exploration of the sunken city of Kalibruhn lead to riches and renown, or an untimely death?

Sunday - LEGIO V - Explore grodog’s Greyhawk – Gnoll Raiders Cairn (AD&D 1e): Particularly-ferocious gnoll bands looted three caravans en route to Greyhawk, striking along the Urnst Trail. The party is hired to destroy the gnolls and recover the wares! Bring your graph paper, dice, and a healthy dose of paranoid courage!

Looking forward to it.

Anthony Huso's Guide to AD&D 1e (Unofficial Compilation)

 

This has recently arrived on the mail. 

On March 2024 Lucas M. compiled and edited a series of blog posts by Antony Huso, designed to introduce you to vintage AD&D and teach you how to play it more or less by the book.

The book is 134 pages long and covers several topics of the game: "Running Your First AD&D Campaign", "DMing & 1e Philosophy", "Combat, Standard & Armed", "Combat, Unarmed & Avoiding", "Combat, Special", "Magic", "Psionics", "Leveling Up, XP, Training", "High Level Play" and "Other Fun House Rules". It also features two appendix at the end, "A: How Much Treasure?" and "B: Bards".

On the first page we read: "Webpage links and dates of publication are included at the beginning of each section. For the sake of clarify, titles of some posts have been changed and sub-headings added; a blog post has been divided and included in different sections. The webpage links often include the original title of the blog posts, so look there if you need to identify them." which may be useful, but some original posts might be unavailable.

I ordered this because we are getting ready to play Huso's mega dungeon "Castle of the Silver Prince" and want to do it as close as "Gary intended" as possible. When Aron Clark, the group's DM and compiler of the physical copy of this tome, threw the idea everyone jumped on board right away. I've always been an AD&D 1e fan but doesn't run my game RAW, though I play on a game run by Allan T. Grohe, Jr. (grodog) that closely does it. This will be another chance to delve into the minutiae of AD&D.

You can order your POD copy from Lulu here for only $8.57 on paperback. 

BRW Games Big Announcement

On Gary Gygax day, BRW Games, led by Joseph Bloch (aka Greyhawk Grognard), has teased a major upcoming project in a recent YouTube video, hinting at what could be their most ambitious release yet. While specific details remain unrevealed, the announcement suggests an open license universal game system named ADDventure Engine with the core of AD&D 1e. The system could be applied to any genre (fantasy, post-apocalyptic, weird west, superheroes, science fiction, horror, WWII, space opera, etc.) and will be a toolkit to create games. 

Known for titles like Adventures Dark and Deep and Castle of the Mad Archmage, BRW’s fans are already speculating and expressing excitement. With Bloch’s track record for old-school RPG depth and quality, this announcement has stirred significant anticipation in the tabletop community.

Virtual Greyhawk Con 6 - Badge

 

Just bought my badge for the next Virtual Greyhawk Con. 

Get yours here at TableTop Events.

VECNA: GENESIS OF A LEGEND

 

In this 40-page long publication, grey-sages Samuel Weiss and Gary Holian get into a dialogue and make a careful and thorough evaluation, going beyond superficial judgments to delve deep into the published history of of one of the most known, and probably one of the first, liches in the World of Greyhawk. 

They talk about who Vecna was and how he got to run a vast empire, the cult that grew around him, what are his relics (not only his notorious hand and eye) and provide an exhaustive historical timeline, from more than a millennia ago to the Common Year "present day". Also, they tells us how (not) to use him in a campaign and why.

A must read to all Greyhawk fans out there, both players and DMs alike!

Weather Forecaster for the World of Greyhawk

I don't know if I have shared this before, but it's a great tool that I use in all my games. It produces a weather forecast for a month to a certain area, specified by the caster, and can even forecast upcoming months if so desired. It uses the rules as depicted in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting Boxed Set from 1983.

Follow THIS link to read the "Scroll of Weather Forecasting" and unleash some old and powerful Suloise magic. 

Thanks Tomi for putting this up 12 years ago!

Orn

Orn, is a Nordborn mercenary, ready to unveil the mysteries and plunder the hidden riches of the Gelid Glens of Gar, an open table drop in/drop out West Marches style campaign by GM Jason Hobbs using Old School Essentials rules, set in his Emergent Empires world.

“The Great Wizard, Baggio Gar, and his entourage passed through the arctic cold of the far north. They passed beyond the North march and Nordborn lands. Even beyond those chill waves of Issven. To Port Tuini and the frozen gates of the Ice Plains and on to Fort Deline did they march through snow filled lands.”

S 17, I 10, W 9, D 15, C 9, Ch 12

UPDATE: Found the Ring of Gar, lost an eye, got a reputation of a drunken lout for too much carousing, raised to level 4 and got killed fighting off fire elementals.

How Technology Affected My D&D Table: From Graph Paper to Google Docs (Without Replacing It)

Our most sophisticated tool when I first began playing D&D in 1987 was a photocopier. Character sheets, graph paper maps, and smudged pencil notes that barely made it through spilled soda and oily snacks were all in the binders we carried. Index cards were used to track initiative. A typewriter was used to type the handouts. Asking someone who wasn't drinking that night what went wrong was your best bet if you missed a session.

The situation has evolved. However, not in the manner that people think.

I haven't made the transition to fully virtual tabletop systems. Even if I run my Greyhawk campaign on Roll20, some still use actual dice to roll. We still play in person, or as close as possible, and many of our maps are created by hand.

However, technology has subtly crept into our sessions in ways that are hard to overlook. And truthfully? It has improved the game.

Memory, Meet Machine: Recording and Summarizing Sessions with Fathom

Fathom.video, a platform that was initially created for business meetings but is now used to record and summarize our online D&D sessions, is one of  the most helpful tools we've recently embraced.

It produces precise, searchable summaries of all events. A player only needs to go over the highlights if they miss a session; they don't require a half-hour recap. What happens if someone forgets a name, the reason behind an NPC, or the actual meaning of that mysterious note? The summary contains all of it.

Memory is no longer our only option. We have an objective record of the game thanks to it. That's crucial in a campaign that lasts a long time. The telling of the story is being preserved, not replaced.

Shared documents and cloud notes

The days of searching for the "one notebook" that contained the timeline or party inventory are long gone. We now keep track of campaign history, session notes, and character backgrounds using shared Google Docs. A living journal is kept by one player. A spellbook file is kept up to date by another. My direct message notes are organized into folders and connected to tabs for towns, NPCs, rumors, and previous occurrences.

Players remain involved in between sessions because of the accessibility. When the session concludes, the campaign need not end.

How Memes, Messaging, and Chat Turned Into Game Tools

We communicate in a Telegram group chat. Initially used as a scheduling tool, it soon became a feature of the game. In-character meme sharing, strategy discussions, and even in-world arguments are all done by players.

That area developed into a sort of channel for "downtime roleplay". Occasionally, in between sessions, on the spur of the moment, without dice, the best lines and character development occur.

Technology Enhances Imagination, Not Replaces It

What I love is that these tools don't take over the game. They are in favor of it.

If given the time I continue to hand-draw my dungeon maps. I don't make use of animated tokens or dynamic lighting anymore. However, I would be happy to have a digital archive of the players' wild theories or a searchable transcript of that intense interrogation scene.

Making D&D into a video game is not the goal. Because they won't have to waste mental energy recalling what happened three weeks ago, players will be able to immerse themselves more fully in the world. They are aware of what took place. It is recorded. They can now play.

Looking Ahead 

I'm curious about what will happen next as the game keeps changing, but I'm also cautious. Our sessions have already become more focused and accessible thanks to these tools, and I can already see the allure of additional technology encroaching on the edges.

It's OK to use AI to create NPC portraits that instantly correspond with given descriptions. Or, to cut down on preparation time, write a few impromptu treasure hoards, town gossip, or tavern menus. Or, turn a description into an image for those who have trouble imagining them. 

The problem is that none of that takes the place of what really counts.

At the table, or virtual table, between people, the true magic takes place. When a player befriends the villain or destroys the town you spent hours creating, there are unexpected turns that no algorithm can foresee. The intensity of a tense silence before a dice roll cannot be captured in a transcript.

I will therefore continue to experiment. When technology can assist, I'll let it. However, the essence of the game remains secure as long as the story is shared and the laughter is genuine.

Tell me in the comments what technological aids you use in your games.

A Deep Dive Conversation With Joe Bloch

 Great interview by Joethelawyer to Joe Bloch (Greyhawk Grognard) from BRW Games!

"Joe's been a core member of the OSR since the early blog days. He's a very successful Indy publisher with his own old school ruleset, and he has published one of the largest mega-dungeons ever written."

Campaign update

Just realized I haven't posted since November! 

After helping Captain Eclan and his crew to capture the drow galleys from teh Temple of Lolth in Erelhei-Cinlu (Y2-Z2/54-57), the rebel flotilla sailed down the Pitchy Flow to a svirfneblin trading post and shanty town (B2/24). There, they unloaded several exiles from the drow city and did business with the deep gnomes (sold some goods and bought lizard mounts). Later, Cpt. Eclan arranged for the party to be sailed to the caverns of a svifneblin stronghold (J2-K2/26-28), where they secured an agreement with the gnomes. In exchange of clearing some nearby caves (L2/31 - Sanctum of the Absent Mage) they provided guides through the Underdark to the dwarven stronghold of Bhun-Farhun, set on the western slopes of the Crystalmist Mts. overseeing the Duchy of Berghof. Away from the interferences of the Underdark, the party contacted Melf via Sending and organized to be brought back to Celene through Countess Tillahi's Mirror of Mental Prowess. 

The party arrives at Celene through a magic mirror

They then spend some days on Tillahi's estate, resting and recovering, repairing their gear, eating decent food, enjoying the sun, and talking about everything that has happened in the nearly two months since they used the same magic mirror to go to the Hill Giants' Steading. Stengar (Cav10) and Teodric (Pal7), the paladin of St. Cuthbert rescued from the Kuo-toas and now in service of Meriven (Clr9), retrieve their mounts left to them by Stengar's henchmen, and take advantage of the opportunity to ride. The unicorn, rescued from the Eilserv's estate, also enjoys prancing around the elven fields, always to return to Meriven. Rivers (TA11) and Qinren (T9) spend their time fraternizing with the local elves. Countess Tillahi takes an interest in Delavda, the half-drow exile also in service of Meriven, and her life in Erelhei-Cinlu, while Kothar (MU10) meets with Melf to talk about arcane matters and seek advice.

The group returns to their fiefdoms, the Moathouse in Hommlet, Twilight Falls and Sobanwych, and make plans for the future. Rivers set off to Dyvers to buy a merchant ship and hire a crew, the beginning of his shipping company like he said. In the ship's figurehead he discovers a secret compartment holding a waterproof scrollcase with a map inside. Kothar handles Áladram, his half-elven apprentice, the task to oversee the building of a library and shrine to Delleb, god of reason, intellect and study, in Twilight Falls. A young curate from Verbobonc, Adso of Mol, travels to Twilight Falls to be in charge of them when they're finished. Meriven seeks the approval of the church of St. Cuthbert in Verbobonc to build an abbey in Sobanwych. Since the liberation of Sobanwych from the Witch Queen (Markessa The Green) and the defeat of the Temple of Elemental Evil, the town and surrounding areas were claimed by Verbobonc and given by the viscount to Stengar as a gift for his role in bringing down both dangers. The Free City of  Dyvers protested but, not wanting to engage militarily with the Viscounty, negotiated a solution and the whole situation was to be decided by a joust. We used the jousting rules from The Axe Lands. 

Stengar defeats the Black Knight of Dyvers

Weeks pass, and Stengar and Meriven make plans to return, as they promised, to Lost Fenrill in the Pomarj to liberate the abandoned town of its strange curse. Also Meriven sets up a place in the Moathouse dungeons as a recall destination. It is made casting a ritual using an artifact taken from the Dark Druids of the Suss forest. The drawback is that there is a slim chance (daily 5%) of summoning a vrock. Kothar helps to secure the place with some spells. At one point Stengar and Kothar receive a letter from his father, Sir Elric, a veteran of the Battle of Emridy Meadows, asking for help to find a fellow dwarf. After retiring from adventuring the dwarf got into the mining business. Recently he got the deed of a silver mine in the Suss forest near the town of Badwall. The dwarf´s family is worried since they haven't received any news for some weeks.

They decide to travel to Dyvers and take Rivers' new ship, Rivers' Bargain, up the Nyr Dyv, down the Selintan River, into the Wooly Bay and the Wild Coast. At the port city of Safeton they secure a route between there and the city of Fax, for the ship to make as they travel to Badwall in search for the missing dwarf. After some days of inquiry they get to the silver mine and the dwarves. Clues lead them deep into the Suss forest to a ruined castle...

The caverns of Nol-Daer